Assaults, set sail for
India that he might save the great riches he had acquired, leaving the
command to Ayres Coello, who valiantly undertook the dangerous service.
[Footnote 172: At first sight this appears to have been the fort of
Pisang, but from the sequel it would rather seem to have been another
fort at or in the neighbourhood of Pedier. - E.]
[Footnote 173: It is hardly possible that the lord of a petty state on
the coast of Sumatra should have so large a number of elephants, more
perhaps than the Great Mogul in the height of the sovereignty of
Hindustan. Probably Capt. Stevens may have mistaken the original, and we
ought to read "With above a thousand men and several armed
elephants." - E.]
[Footnote 174: Though obscurely expressed in the text, these thirty
pirates appear to have been employed in the ship commanded by Seixas;
probably pardoned after the punishment of their former leader Gago. - E.]
While on his voyage to India, Enriquez met two ships commanded by
Sebastian Souza and Martin Correa, bound for the Island of Banda to load
with spices; who learning the dangerous situation of Pisang, went
directly to that place. Ayres Coello had just sustained a furious
assault with some loss; and on seeing this relief the enemy abated
their fury. Eight days afterwards, Andres was forced back by stress of
weather to Pisang. One night, above 8000 of the enemy surrounded the
fort, in which there were 350 Portuguese, some of whom were sick and
others disabled by wounds, but all much spent with continual watching
and fatigue. The enemy advanced in profound silence and applied seven
hundred scaling ladders to the walls, on which they immediately mounted
with loud shouts. The dispute was hotly maintained on both sides for
some time; but some ships being set on fire enabled the Portuguese to
point their cannon with such accuracy, that many of the enemy were
slain, and the rest obliged to desist from the assault. Next morning
above two thousand of the enemy were found slain around the walls, with
two elephants; while on the Portuguese side only one woman was slain in
her chamber by an arrow. The remaining six thousand of the enemy
immediately retired, leaving half their ladders and large quantities of
fireworks. Yet taking into consideration the difficulty and expence of
maintaining this port, it was resolved to ship off all the men and
goods, and to set it on fire, leaving the large cannons filled with
powder, that they might burst when the fire reached them. Greater part
of the fort was destroyed; but the enemy saved some of the cannon, which
were afterwards employed with considerable effect against the
Portuguese. Some goods were lost in shipping, as the Portuguese were in
a great fright, and embarked up to the neck in water.
